ENI awaits approval from Mozambican government to pay capital gains on deal with ExxonMobil

The payment of US$350 million in capital gains tax by Italian group ENI is expected to be made by November, and the group is now waiting for the deal with US group ExxonMobil to be approved by the Mozambican government, an official from the Mozambican Tax Authority (TA) has said.

The ExxonMobil group paid US$2.8 billion in cash to the Italian group for a 35.7% stake in ENI East Africa and, through this company, an indirect 25% stake in the Rovuma Area 4 block in northern Mozambique.

When the government of Mozambique approves the deal, ENI East Africa’s shareholders will be ENI, with 35.7%, ExxonMobil with 35.7% and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) with 28.6%.

The operator and main partner of Block 4 is the ENI group, with a 70% stake, and the remaining partners are Mozambican state-owned Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), Portuguese group Galp Energia and South Korean group Kogas, all with 10% each.

The coordinator of the TA’s extractive industry taxation unit, Anibal Mbalango, said that 22 sales are being analysed, adding that 15 transactions had been concluded in the first half of the year, yielding 27.4 billion meticais (US$457 million) for the state.